Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Triumph for Trump: US trade deficit with China drops 13% in Dec. 2017; US exports to China surge 7.5% to record high in Dec. 2017; imports from China fall 7.6% in Dec. 2017-Reuters, Commerce Dept. 2/6/18...(Reuters waits til 23rd paragraph to report good news of Dec. 2017 drop in China trade deficit and surge of US exports)

“Many
American factory workers bought intothe promise of the president’s
trade policy reforms, but they are still waiting for results,”said
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing....

The
Trump administration believes a smaller trade deficit, together with
deep tax cuts, could boost annual economic growth to 3 percent on a
sustained basis. Late in January, Trump imposed broad tariffs on
imported solar panels and large washing machines, and isconsidering
slapping tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum for national security
reasons. Such actions may prove politically popular with Trump’s
working-class supporters, particularly in states hard-hit by factory
closures and import competition. But economists say they would likely do
little to change the growth trajectory of the overall trade deficit,which is tied more to macroeconomic factors....

Reuters took additional
trouble to change the thesis of their article without explanation in the
7th paragraph. Instead of reporting Dec. 2017 trade results about China announced today (the reason for the article), they decide to report results for the entire year 2017, during which China deficit "jumped to a record high."Trump wasn't even on the job
for the entire year. In the tapestry woven by Reuters, readers have no choice but to believe Trump is a failure on US-China trade. Reuters expands its "Trump is a
failure" narrative by including select quotes they've miraculously
found agreeing that Trump's had no results (one of which I included above). "Reaction" quotes all appear before the good news of paragraph 23.

Reuters includes no quotes or reactions to the good news in paragraph 23.